My friend,
As a loyal One Piece fan, i suggest you to give the series a try. Sometimes, you have to rely on your own desire to read/watch it or not, just because as you can see right now, some say it's bad and vice versa. In the end, it's all up to you. IMO, this series won't disappoint you in long term. Among the big 3, you barely know/heard how many long-period OP fans wanna drop it until today, that signs something about OP. Half-hearted viewers may hate the series due to its art, but true fans know its storyplot compensate everything, while the mangaka, Oda improves his skill in drawing and foreshadowing so much through time that we have gotten used to his style.
People can keep on hating us together with One Piece by accuse us as kids, idiots, *****s, nonsenses, crazies, etc, but we stay firm with it. Oda is writing his story with full of excitement (he claims this so many times over interviews that he can't wait to give us his gifts through OP each week, specifically each time he got bedridden.) thus we're gladly to be his readers and share his excitement with him.
For summary, there's our nakama earlier had given it to you, or you could've wiki it. Highly recommended for you to read its manga, then if you think you can handle the art, you may start with its anime later. Top choices of fans about arcs are Alabasta, Water 7, Ennies Lobby, Sabaody Archipelago, Marineford, Dressrosa. For a bit deeper ones are that Sabaody and Fishmen Island arc. The others are great too, just one notch below them all. Even filler arc; G8 (anime only) is awesome. If there's anything else, do ask.